Different Trains by Steve Reich

Different Trains by Steve Reich at The Jewish Theatre Stockholm from Judiska Teatern on Vimeo.

June 30 - July 21

Kishle (The Turkish Prison), Tower of David Museum

A masterpiece by America's greatest living composer

The Fleshquartet

When was the last time that a musical performance really took you to a different place? Different Trains , Steve Reich's timeless Grammy Award- winning composition is making its way, as we write, to the Kishle (a former Ottomon prison) at the Tower of David Museum, where Stockholm's  very own Jewish Theatre will perform a fascinating visual interpretation of his work.  Join us for a riveting and unique audio-visual experience.

The performances will premier on June 30 and will continue to July 21, running from Monday-Thursday and Saturday. Please book in advance:

Tower of David Museum *2884

Bimot *6226

Entrance to the show involves a walk in the castle moat the stairs. We recommend comfortable shoes and warm clothes. Regretfully, due to the show's unique location, it is not accessible for people with dissabilities. 

The location has 120 sits capacity, unmarked. 

No Late entry. 

Photography, recording and documentation strictly prohibited.

It's not surprising that the New York Times crowned American Steve Reich "one of the most important living composers." His startling

talent and fearless experimentation have produced a rich, varied and formidable musical repertoire.

Now Reich’s Grammy Award winning Different Trains (produced by The Jewish Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden) is on its way to Jerusalem, or more specifically, to an ancient Turkish prison, the Kishle, at the Tower of David; where it will be performed by Swedish string quartet The Fleshquartet amidst billowing glass shapes in play with light and shifting transparencies.Different Trains is a piece in three movements written for a string quartet. The melodies in the work are interwoven with recorded, spoken voices.

The prison, which was specially renovated for the event and holds a maximum of 120 people, was built above newly discovered archaeological finds dating back to the Second Temple period that will be revealed to the public for the first time as part on this visual concert.

The Fleshquartet (photo: Jonas Lindstr?m) performs this piece in a glass installation by artist Ann Wahlstrom. Large glass drops hover in the darkened room. Specially designed lighting units bring out refractions of different colors in them. Some drops are lying on the floor, but none has broken. “We wanted the objects to feel as large as people, so that the audience would be physically affected by them as well,” says Wahlstrom. 

“I want the performance to be like an elegy", says Pia Forsgren, director of The Jewish Theatre and responsible for the stage direction as well as the concept and set design of the concert. "I want the images to transmit beauty, too. The beautiful glass shapes could be souls or bodies. Beauty here is a way of making communication possible, of allowing us to take in the unspeakable and of giving us strength". The visual concert also featured a new composition written by The Fleshquartet – Tears Apart – as a reflection and commentary on Reich’s Different Trains.

Steve Reich, one of the pioneers of minimalism, has had a strong influence on contemporary art music; the slow, repetitive rhythms, the phasing into different tempi, the shifts in canon. Different Trains was Steve Reich’s first work in which he “extracted” music from speech; he later developed this concept in The Cave and City Life.

The Fleshquartet has been active for over 25 years and has collaborated with a great variety of artists, including Robyn, Moondog and Elvis Costello. They have been involved in various productions for the stage, for instance dance performances by the choreographer Mats Ek and the Cullberg Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov and the Paris Opera. In 2007 they released the album Voices of Eden.

Artistic Director, Jerusalem Season of Culture: Itay Mautner